Amanda McIntosh, Vice President of the HOPE Squad of Carbon, Emery and Grand Counties, opened their quarterly virtual meeting on Wednesday with a small meet and greet of those in attendance. She then focused on upcoming events that will be hosted by the HOPE Squad.
The first event is the Hoo Doo You Run For 5K, 10K run or walk for suicide awareness on Saturday, Nov. 7. This event will take place at the Goblin Valley State Park and McIntosh said that she wished to tip her hat and graciously thank the many members of the group that have been working tirelessly to organize the event.
McIntosh spoke on the many ways that the run will be COVID-19 safe and showed those in attendance the medals that she had ordered for the participants. Members gathered last week and constructed 150 swag bags that will be distributed to attendees.
According to McIntosh, there are 84 runners signed up thus far with one being virtual. She continued, stating that they have a plethora of monetary and non-monetary donations from many entities, including local tourism departments and more.
Next up, the discussion was moved to the International Survivors of Suicide Loss (ISOSL) Day. McIntosh was contacted by a representative to discuss a dinner that may be hosted that evening. McIntosh was in agreement and it was arranged that the dinner will take place at Crosscut Brewery in Price on Saturday, Nov. 21 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) has a website that those that are interested may visit and register to attend. The event will be intimate and McIntosh stated she does not expect more than about 20 people.
Finally, the Beat the Winter Blues event, hosted annually, became the topic of discussion. While the conversation on this was brief, McIntosh stated that, depending on COVID-19 restrictions, there is a possibility of having a spaghetti dinner hosted sometime in March of 2021. She stressed that COVID-19 guidelines will be monitored before making any concrete plans.